Pussygate rocks BBC

AN ONLINE POLL which invited viewers of the BBC's flagship childrens' programme, Blue Peter, to name its new cat was rigged, reports the Manchester Grauniad.

The show's editor was 'moved to other duties' after an incident in March in which a young girl on a studio tour was told to pose as the winner of a phone-in competition after switchboard problems meant callers could not get through.

Now Richard Marson has been suspended and sent to his room with no supper after the discovery that the wrong name had been chosen for the new Blue Peter cat in an online poll.

Socks the cat, yesterday

As is normal practice for the show, its celebrity pets have their names chosen by viewers, but it was revealed that Socks, the name chosen for the pussy back in January, wasn't the one that topped the poll. The actual winning name was not revealed, although it was said to be 'unsuitable' - Yentob, probably.

Although the Beeb - which was fined £50,000 by broadcasting regulators after the earlier deception - is refusing to comment officially, an unnamed BBC source told the Grauniad:

"I think the feeling was that if we can't honestly name a Blue Peter cat, then really, that is perhaps the last straw in this whole fiasco." µ

L'Inq
Grauniad